Typewriting machine or the like



y 17, 1934- c. w. HDOUBLER ET AL 1,966,697

TYPEWRITING MACHINE OR THE LIKE Filed July 17, 1933 Patented July I7, 1934 TYPEWRITING MACHINE OR THE LIKE Charles W. HDpnbler and George I. Mills, Sprin field, Mo-

Application July 17, 1933, Serial No. 68.0,760

15 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in typewriting machines or the like and more specifically to a folding typewriting machine having copy supporting means integraliy incorporated therein.

While typewriting machines of various well known makes now being oifered for sale in the open market are quite efficient in performance, they are not all that could be desired as no means of an integral nature is provided for conveniently supporting the operators COPY, nor, owing to the general design of the machines. is there any available space for supporting a device of that nature where it would not obstruct the operators view of the typing as it proceeds and, therefore, any copy holding device used must needs bea separate structure or attachment and either set back of the machine -and thus be at too ,greata distance from the operatorseyes-or at one side thereof and thereby causing the operator to be constantly twisting his neck from side to side as the vision is shifted from the copy to the impression vroller-wand vice versa and it ,is very obvious that such devices are not conducive to the comforter the well-being of the operatornor of speed and accuracy of execution.

Another objectionable feature ,ofprior yp writine machines is that, owing to the d s thereof, they cannot be conveniently operated while resting on an oflicedesk .of standard height but must needs be provided with a separate desk or table of aheight to suit theoperator andbesides the added expense they thus occupy oilice space thatis often desirable for other purposes.

Stillanother objectionable feature of the said prior typewriting machine is that the hoods or v rs for protectin th crnec nism/ar o s parate structure, more or less difiicult to remove and replace and the ,rnachines are, therefore, often left exposed to injury by dust or accident.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to overcome the objectionable features of p i r typewritingmachinesaboye related and providea typewritingmachine in which th keyboard is dropped for use to ,a position which is lower than the plane of the desk toptsupp tin the machine, and thereby provide an ideal space .above,and back of the keyboardfor support n a copy holding table within the frame of the machineand, at the same time, provideatypewriting machine that ,is-conveniently operable when positioned on a standard oilicedesk.

Another object of t'he inilention s toprovide a folding .typewriting machine having U-shaped (Cl. 1Z034) bearings provided as a part of the base member of the frame for rotatably supporting shafts carrying a copy holder and other U-shaped bearing means at the top of said base for supporting the copy holder in a stowed position during shipments.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a typewriting machine having a copy supporting member resting at a desirable angle of incline to bring the copy supported thereon, the impression roller and the keyboard Within the operators line of vision with the least possible effort and strain on the eyes.

And a further object of the invention is to pro- W vide a typewriting machine having a copy holder in front of, and partially above the plane of, the impression roller and yet not obstruct the operators view of the impression roller and the typing as it proceeds.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a typewriting machine comprising typing means and a copy sustaining device having a line marker or isolating means operated by a lever key positionedon the base member in a conveniently operable position for the operator.

And a still further object of the invention is to provide a typewriting machine comprising typing means and a double decked co-py supporting table for conveniently supporting extra long copy sheets.

W'ith the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the novel construction, combination of parts as hereinafter described and, more specifically, as defined in the appended claims; it being understood that such changes as come within the scope of the claims may be made.

,In the accompanying drawing in which the reference charactersjndicate the same parts in the drawing:

Fig. '1 is a side elevation of the improved typewriting machine P sitioned for use onthe top of a fragmentary portion of an office desk of stand- 100 ard height but having the extreme end of the rear closure member of the folding frame, which carries no mechanism, deleted but indicated by dotted line in its closed position;

' Fig. 2 is a top view of the lower portion of the 103 copy supporting device showing the line isolator in position for use;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view in section of fragmentary portions of the base and key housing members of the foldin .frame disclosing an operative key and the major portion of its associated key-operated lever; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of the lever, pawl and sprocket wheel associated with the line isolating feature of the copy sustaining device and having a small portion of the sprocket wheel cut away to reveal the pawl in engagement with the operative ratchet.

Referring to the drawing the numeral 5 indicates the supporting base member of the improved typewriting machine carrying typing means incidental to typewriters in general and the unique features of the present invention.

A closure member 5' is swingably associated with the rear end of the base member 5 by pivotal hinge 6 in such manner that said closure portion will lie flatly on the top 7 of the supporting desk when the machine is in use. As the closure member carries no mechanism, the end portion thereof is deleted in the drawing but is indicated by dotted line X in its closed position.

A foldable member 5" adapted for housing a plurality of operative keys forming a key-board is suitably supported at the front end of the base 5 by pivotal hinges 8 to allow said member 5" to hang over the edge of the supporting desk top '7 and have a bearing against the lower portion of the base and also against the edge of said desk top when the machine is properly positioned for use and thus lower the operative keys 16 supported therein to a conveniently operable position below the plane of the supporting desk top.

By this arrangement the space occupied by the key-board in prior typewrlting machines is left vacant in the present invention and thus affords space for ideally positioning a copy holding device at the proper distance and at the proper slant or incline to bring the copy, impression roller and the key-board within the operators range of vision with no change in the position of the head whatever.

To produce a workable machine of the nature described we have provided a plurality of specially formed operative keys 16 which together with the spacing bar constitutes the key-board incidental to all typewriting machines.

The operative keys 16 are formed with sub stantially J-shaped extending arms 15 of various lengths to adapt each key to function in its allotted position in one of the tiers of the keyboard; this also applying to the spacing bar. The key arms 15 are adaptably formed at the free ends thereof to be pivotally attached to the front ends of key-operated, type actuating levers 15 by shouldered pintles 17 in such manner that when said levers 15 are supported in their normal positions for use said pintles 1'7 will be substantially in coaxial alignment with the pintles 8 on which the housing member swings and, furthermore, the end of the upper elbow of each key-arm 15 is circular and of a radius equivalent to the radii of the clasp portions of the hinges 8 so that when the machine is folded to a closed position the hinges of the frame and those of the key-arms will have the appearance of one continuous hinge extending across the front of the frame.

The key-operated levers 15' are mounted in slots provided in a support 19 by a common wire fulcrum 20. The front ends of the levers 15' project barely through the walls of the base and housing members through corresponding slots 22 provided in said members, said slots being just deep enough and just wide enough to provide working clearances and also guiding support for' the joined ends of the key-arms and levers during typing performances. The keys l6 and the lever 15 are supported in their normal positions for use with said levers yieldingly abutting a common stop bar 25, rigidly supported in the base member, by means of a small coil spring 24, seated in a welllike pocket 23 provided in the base member directly under said levers 15'.

As the pivoted key-arms 15 would, if unrestrained, swing rearwardly and rub against the inner wall of the housing member when in action, said arms are provided with straight shoulder portions 15a adjacent the pintles l7 and abutting a lip-like projection 150 provided on and adjacent the front ends of the levers 15'.

By this arrangement the key-arms operate in a substantially vertical line of action and to retain the operative keys in their normal position at all times, relative to the housing member, a stop bar 18 extends laterally across the housing member workably close to the front edges of the key-arms 15 and are anchored at the two ends thereof in the side walls of the housing member.

As the pintles l7, hinging the key-arms to the ends of the levers 15, are in approximate coaxial alignment with the pintles 8, hinging the housing member 5" to the base member 5, it is obvious that when the housing member is folded to its closed position the key-arms will coordinately fold and thus carry the operative keys to an inverted position adjacent the top portion of the closed machine and will be sustained in their normal position relative to the housing member by the means heretofore described.

From the foregoing description of the salient features of our foldable typewriting machine, it is apparent that we have provided a workable machine having space adaptable for supporting a complemental copy sustaining device including a key operated line isolating member.

A copy supporting table 37 is suitably mounted on brackets 38 in which three identical small shafts 39 are journaled, said shafts extending laterally across the inside of the base 5 and rotatably seated at the extreme ends thereof in U-shaped bearings 40 provided in two identically formed supporting guideway members 41 secured to the inner walls of the base, (or, preferably, formed in said side walls) the guideways providing means for facilitating the operations of removing and replacing the copy holding device.

The rear and uppermost shaft 39 carries two identical small pulleys 42 splined near the two ends of said shaft but allowing workable clearance between said pulleys and the guideways. The medially seated small shaft 39 is for supporting purposes only while the bottom shaft carries two somewhat larger pulleys 43 than those on the upper shaft but mounted similarly excepting that a ratchet Wheel 44 (Fig. 4) is secured to the outside of the pulley disposed on the left-hand side of the machine. Furthermore, the pu leys 43 are provided with equispaced and centrally located sprockets 45 on the periphery of each pulley.

Two identical bolts 46 formed from any suitable material and having equispaced eyelets 47 provided in the longitudinal center thereof are workably supported by the four previously defined pulleys with the sprockets 45 thereon engage-able with the eyelets 4'7. A line isolating or lining means 48 is formed from any suitable thin material and is provided with an isolating slot 48 and a yieldingly supported flange 49 hinged to the lower edge thereof by a pivotal hinge 50. The

line isolating means is suitably secured at the ends thereof to the two belts having the flange 49 at the bottom and the slot running at right angles to the said belts.

To operate the line isolating means 48 a circularly formed lever 51 is pivotally mounted on the inside of the aforementioned guideway member 41 by a shouldered screw 52. The lever 51 supports a pawl 53 provided "with an upwardly extending curved arm pivoted to the medial portion of said lever by a shouldered rivet 54, said pawl being engageable with the aforementioned ratchet 44, and to maintain said engagement a coil spring 55 is attached to the rear edge of the lever 51 and to a stud 56 set into the base 5 to support said lever with yielding pressure against a stud 57 set in the aforementioned guideway member 41, while another spring 58 coiled around a stud 59 anchored in the upper arm portion of said lever and having the two uncoiled end portions of said spring engaged with and making yielding pressure against both the supporting lever and the extending pawl arm 53 to yieldingly support the engaging end of the pawl in contact with the ratchet.

It will now be apparent that pressure applied to the top key-line portion of the lever 51 will cause the engaged pawl to force the ratchet wheel and the pulley attached thereto into controllable rotary action and, through the medium of the sprocket actuated belts 46 carried by the pulleys heretofore defined, draw downwardly the line isolating device 48 a predetermined distance to suit the spacing of the copy being typed, this being provided for by an adjustable lever-stop 60 positioned beneath the pivoted end portion of the circularly formed lever 51, before mentioned, and co-pivoted therewith by the shouldered screw 52 to the before mentioned guideway and made adjustable by means of a set screw 61 coacting with the edges of a semi-circular slot 62 provided in said lever-stop.

It will be observed that the belts carrying the line isolating device are disposed somewhat above the plane of the copy table and hence said device is readily drawn over the copy; also that as said device is, preferably, of a dark color or shade, the slot provided therein completely isolates the desired line of copy on all sides.

A flange 49 yieldingly supported on the lower edge of the line isolating device is raised as shown in the drawing to provide support for unusual copy for which the line isolating device is not adaptable and may readily be thrown down as indicated by dotted lines when not wanted.

To secure sheet copy to the copy table a small clip 63 is provided at the extreme top of said copy table.

To provide for unusually long copy sheets a thin sub-table 64 is secured to the under side of the copy table by brackets 65 in a manner to provide a narrow space between the two table members to receive the lower end portions of such long copy sheets while the upper portion is being typed; and, to facilitate the insertion of the copy sheets into said narrow space, the sub-table is provided with the lower end portion thereof projecting somewhat further downwardly than said copy table proper.

To reset the line isolating device, after a page of copy has been typed, the pawl is first released from engagement with the ratchet by upwardly directed finger pressure against the curved arm portion of the pawl 53 and the normal working direction of travel of the belts supporting the device is reversed by hand to return said device to the top portion of the copy table.

When the typewriting machine is to be closed, the paper support 65, at the rear of the machine, is first depressed as indicated by dotted lines and the rear closure member 5' is folded forwardly. The housing member 5" together with the keyboard housed therein, is then folded rearwardly to the indicated closed position and, if desired, locked by means of the catch locks provided on the two closure members of the frame.

As the major portion of the copy sustaining device is removably supported by the frame means are provided for stowing said removable portion thereof snugly within the frame, when closed. for shipment purposes, said means comprising other U-shaped bearings '71 formed in supports 71 mounted on and adjacent the top portion of the base 5 and in which the bottom shaft 39 is seated while the bolts 46, nearer the rear ends thereof, rest securely on the impression roller 35, and when the frame is closed and locked, the device will be snugly incased therein and not likely to be displaced by handling nor during shipments.

Having described the novelties of our invention, we claim:

1. In a typewriting machine of the sort described comprising typewriting means supported by a folding frame having a base member and means for supporting a copy sustaining means integrally provided as a portion of said base member.

2. In a typewriting machine, in combination,

typewriting means supported by a frame having j a base member, shaft bearings integrally provided in said base member and shafts supporting copy sustaining means mounted in said bearings.

3. In a typewriting machine, in combination.

typewriting means supported within a frame having a base member, means including shaft bearings for supporting a copy sustaining table provided in said base, shafts supporting a copy table mounted in said shaft bearings, pulleys mounted on said shafts, belts carried by said pulleys, a lining device secured to and cooperable with said belts and means for drawing said lining device downwardly by steps of predetermined length.

4. In a typewriting machine, in combination,

a frame formed of several members including a base, typewriting means supported by said base, U-shaped shaft bearings provided in said base, shafts having pulleys splined thereto mounted in said U-shaped bearings, belts carried by said pulleys, a lining member provided with a slot for isolating a line of copy secured to and cooperable with said belts and pawl actuated ratchet means for drawing said lining member downwardly by steps of predetermined length.

5. A typewriting machine of the sort described comprising typewriting means supported in a frame having a base member, copy table supporting means including top and bottom U- shaped shaft bearings provided in said base, a

top and a bottom shaft supporting a copy table mounted in said U-shaped bearings, pulleys mounted on said shafts, belts carried by said pulleys. a lining device secured to and cooperable with said belts, and means for drawing said lining device downwardly by steps of predetermined j :j

length, said means including a ratchet wheel mounted on said bottom shaft adjacent the pulley thereon and workably close to the U-shaped bearings supporting that end of the shaft, a circularly formed lever mounted adjacent to and partly surrounding said U-shaped bearing and supporting a pawl suitably positioned for engagements with said ratchet wheel, spring means for sustaining said pawl in engagement with said ratchet and adjustable means for checking the downward travel of the lining device at a predetermined point, substantially as set forth.

6. In a typewriting machine, in combination, a folding frame formed of several hinged members including a base, a plurality of keys mounted on key-bars supported by said base, copy table supporting means integrally provided in said base and a copy table supported by said means directly to the rear of and above said keys.

7. In a typewriting machine, in combination, a frame including a base and two closure members hinged thereto and swingable to an open or closed position, typewriting means supported by the base, means for supporting a copy sustaining device provided as a portion of said base and other supporting means for supporting said copy sustaining device in a stowed position entirely within said frame when said closure members have been swung into said closed position.

8. In a typewriting machine, in combination, typing means supported by a foldable frame having a base member and a copy holding device supported within said base member.

9. In a typewriting machine, in combination, typing means supported by a foldable frame having a base member, means for supporting a copyholding table provided as an integral portion of said base and a double decked copy sustaining table supported by said supporting means.

10. In a typewriting machine, in combination, typing mechanism including an impression roller supported by a frame having a base member, means provided in said base for supporting a copy holding device and a copy holding table supported by said means in a position in front of said impression roller that will not obstruct a clear View of the typing as it proceeds.

11. In combination, a typewriting machine comprising complemental typing mechanism including an impression roller supported by a frame having a base member, means provided as integral portion of said base for supporting a copy holding device and a copy holding table supported by said means in an inclined position in front of said impression roller.

12. In a typewriting machine, in combination, a frame supporting complemental typing means including a plurality of operative keys, means for supporting a copy sustaining device provided as integral portions of said frame and a copy holder supported by said means in a position for use entirely above the plane of said operative keys.

13. In a typewriting machine, in combination, typewriting mechanism supported by a foldable frame comprising a plurality of hinged members including a base member, shaft bearings provided in said base member, supporting shafts rotatably seated in said bearings and a double decked copy table supported by said supporting shafts.

14. In a typewriting machine, in combination, a foldable frame having a base member, means provided within said base member for supporting a copy holder and a copy holding table supported in an inclined position by said means.

15. In a typewriting machine, in combination, a plurality of hinged members forming a foldable frame including a base member, typing means including a key-board and an impression roller supported by said frame and a copy holding table supported within said base in an inclined position approximately paralleling a line drawn from said key-board to said impression roller.

CHARLES W. HDOUBLER. GEORGE I. MILLS. 

